Frances Whitehead Has Rich Experiences.
Miss Frances Whitehead, city editor of the Baker Herald, whose newspaper experience is rich in variation, has followed the general rather than the specialized lines of newspaper work usually given to women. In speaking of her work, she says:
“My work from the start was covering the beat of an experienced newspaper man, and has given me almost every variety of work, from a gun fight to a wedding. I attribute what success I have attained as a newspaper woman to that fact and to my service under a proficient editor. A day is never ended that I do not think over the happenings that have taken place on my news route with a feeling that I have learned many things both of human nature and of a general business value.
“I believe that is the case in most occupations—confidence is the most essential element in newspaper work. My experience has taught me that the women in the work will be equally successful with men.”
Miss Hemenway, who graduated from the University of Oregon when the school of journalism was “but a yearling,” had the advantage of that year, during which she “reported, edited, made up (in theory), business managed, studied grammar and newspaper ethics and deviled generally.” She is now going through what she calls a “seasoning process” on the Cottage Grove Sentinel. She says:
Gets Accuracy and Versatality.
“As to my own experience—seasoning. It has been gained chiefly on a small-town weekly, a most educative institution, I assure you.
“To me it seems that the chief virtues of country newspaper training are two: You must be accurate and you must be versatile, and the work increases your power in both accuracy and versatility.
“You may think it odd that I have not brought out the ‘woman in news paper work’ idea. But I left it out naturally and unconsciously, precisely because woman in journalism is so taken for granted in my own thought. Now for the first time she is taking advantage freely of what was always a suitable field for her, and making good as a matter of course.”
Realizing that women are still at a great disadvantage even in spite of the urgent demand for help, Miss Winner speaks confidently of their superior capabilities, and adds just a word from her own experience to the girl entering journalism:
“There isn’t a duty on a newspaper that a woman cannot perform. Not every woman has the makings of a managing editor, or even of a reporter. Neither has every man; but woman is more adaptable than man; she can do more things. I know of women who have covered big political stories, big murder trials and kindred stuff, and they put it over the men on the same assignment from other papers, while the man who dares write of fashions, better babies and conservation salad does not exist.
“The profession holds more promise for women now than ever before, and I would suggest to the girl who has made up her mind that she wants to follow journalism as a profession, and has satisfied herself that she can deliver
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